


What Makes You Whole

by respoftw



Series: Tumblr Prompts - Hawksilver edition [36]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mind Control, Pietro is in a wheelchair and he's not happy about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-17
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-04 20:43:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4152273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite the repeated threats that Clint made to shoot him with an arrow, Pietro never really expected it to happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said:  
> For a prompt; during a mission- it happens again: By some means, be it magic or other wise, Clint gets controlled and forced to attack his team, especially Pietro. Pietro feels betrayed and angry at first- but maybe Wanda could feel that there's something affecting Clint's mind? Cue the twins working to break whatever control is on Clint, and Pietro helping Clint recover, comforting and reassuring him that it wasn't his fault!

Clint had been acting strangely since he came back from his weekend with his kids. He'd been cold, dispassionate, acting more like a robot than Vision did.

 

No-one else seemed to have noticed and Pietro felt silly bringing it up. Really, what was he supposed to say? _I think something's wrong with Barton because he doesn't flirt with me anymore?_ He'd be laughed out the room.

 

He would just have to accept that Clint had re-examined his feelings. It's not exactly surprising to him that the archer had come to his senses and realised that he was way too good for the likes of Pietro Maximoff. Disappointing, yes, but not unexpected.

 

So, they were just colleagues now. Pietro could handle that. He was a big boy and used to not getting what he wanted. All he needed was a couple of days to get over the heartache and he would be as good as new.

 

They could still work well together as a team. Or at least that's what Pietro had thought until he was lying on the dusty ground of some backwater town in Mexico, bleeding out from multiple arrow wounds.

 

Despite the repeated threats that Clint made to shoot him with an arrow, Pietro never really expected it to happen.

 

Which is why, when the arrow head shattered his kneecap, his first thought, before the pain made any further thoughts impossible, was that he was going to give the old man hell for missing his target and hitting him instead.

 

He should have remembered that Clint never misses his target.

 

The last thing he's aware of, before the second arrow pierces his chest and blackness intrudes, is how different Clint's eyes looked in this light. Had they always been that blue?

 

*

 

Waking up is painful.

 

He's spent far too much time in the medical bay since joining the Avengers to be confused about where he is, the beeping of monitors and the scratchiness of the bedsheets are practically comforting to him now. They're a sign that he's not dead yet.

 

That's what Clint would always say to him when he woke. “You're not dead yet, kid. Gonna have to do better than that.”

 

Clint has _always_ been there at his bedside, every single one of the fifteen times he's woken up here in the past year, teasing him that he's got a ways to go before he breaks Clint's own record. He's not there this time and it takes Pietro a minute to remember why.

 

_Oh yeah, Clint shot me._

 

He's obviously on the good kind of painkillers because the idea doesn't panic him as much as it should. After all, who hasn't wanted to shoot Pietro before, right? He's just an annoying, cocky smart-ass who's too reckless for his own good. Always making the wrong decisions, pulling Wanda into horrible situations and really, it's the least he deserves.

 

“Goddamnit, Pietro, don't you say that. Don't even bloody think it. You deserve so much more than you have. So much more than me.”

 

Pietro blinks, confused at the voice, as he cranes his neck to peer around the curtain separating his bed from the next, careful not to move to much because of the dull pain in his knee. He hadn't even realised that he'd been speaking aloud. “C-clint?”

 

Clint is in the next hospital bed over, looking utterly wrecked. He looks so much older than Pietro has ever seen him, dark circles under his eyes and deep lines of pain on his face.

 

“R'you ok?”

 

Clint's answering laugh is so devoid of humour that it startles Pietro. “Am I OK? Jesus, kid I shot you with two arrows. You lost enough blood that they had to transfuse you and your knee is going to take weeks to heal. If you had been anyone else, what I did to you would have killed you and you're asking if I'm OK?”

 

Pietro's mind has begun to clear a little as he listened to Clint's tirade, painkillers always did burn through his system quickly. Despite the pain creeping up, he manages to focus on his surroundings a bit more and is shocked to notice that Clint is handcuffed to his hospital bed. “What the hell is going on?!”

 

“Loki.” Natasha chooses that moment to walk into the room, Wanda trailing at her heel. Pietro gratefully accepts the comfort of his sister's presence in his arms but he wants answers more than comfort at the moment. Luckily, Natasha seems to be on board with that plan.

 

“He's back in custody now but while he was free he managed to reach Clint through the link the Tesseract created.”

 

Clint's face is averted from him and Pietro curses in Sokovian, furious that this had happened to him again. Clint doesn't talk much about what happened during Loki's last bid for power but Pietro knows enough, enough to know that this must be unbearable for him.

 

Natasha continues, “Helen's team have confirmed that all traces of it are gone from your system, Clint. How about you let us take those handcuffs off you like we wanted to do six hours ago, huh?”

 

“Wait”, Pietro must still be a little fuzzy from the painkillers because he doesn't quite believe what he's hearing. “You have chosen to lie there in handcuffs for six hours when everybody else would have let you walk free?”

 

“I wanted to be here when you woke up.” Clint's voice sounds so small, so unlike him and it's breaking Pietro's heart.

 

“Why did you need handcuffs to do that?”

 

“Because I HURT you, you idiot! Do you not understand that I could have killed you? I couldn't take the chance that it would happen again. You should hate me for what I did.”

 

As if Pietro could ever hate him. The only thing he hates is what that bastard Loki had done to him. Clint looks broken in a way that Pietro had never believed was possible and all he wants to do is make it better. Moving still isn't an option and from the pain in his knee he has a feeling that it won't be an option for a while to come. Physical comfort is out for the moment but it'll take a hell of a lot more than a few arrows to stop his banter from working. “I'm not dead yet, old man. You want to kill me, you're going to have to do better than that.”

 

Hearing his usual greeting thrown back at him causes Clint to laugh, startled and uncertain sounding, but still music to Pietro's ears.

 

“Now someone get those stupid handcuffs off him so he can come and fluff my pillows. You better realise that I'm going to milk your guilt for all it's worth Barton.”

 

Clint's laugh is warmer now and he doesn't flinch as Natasha frees him from his bonds.

 

“Good.” Pietro pats the side of his bed invitingly. “Now get over here and bring the handcuffs. They might come in useful later.” he winks.

 

“I swear to God kid,” Clint grumbles, sounding more like his old self every minute, “if you don't shut up I'm gonna - - “

 

“What? Put an arrow in me? Psh! Now I know what a lousy shot you are I'm not worried.” Wanda slaps him admonishingly on the shoulder and even Natasha's eyes have widened. “What? Too soon?”

 

As Clint shakes his head in disbelief and gets to dutifully plumping up his pillows Pietro resolves to see him through this. They've both got a long recovery ahead of them but facing it together might make it that bit easier.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anonymous said:  
> Prompt: Quicksilver gets a leg injury and can't walk freely (crutches, wheel chair, etc.) Clint has to deal with him and his need to for speed.

Pietro hates the wheelchair.

It’s slow and heavy; everything that he isn’t and he can’t bear it.  He wants to rage, to really vent about how much he hates being stuck in this stupid thing until his knee heals.  Except that Clint already flinches every time he sees him in it and he just can’t bring himself to lump even more guilt on to him because he’s trying very hard to get it through the archer’s thick head that _this is not his fault._

Despite managing to get him get smiling again not long after he woke up in the hospital, Pietro can see that Clint is drowning in guilt.  Not just for shooting Pietro, no, the whole incident has dragged up the memories of the last time that Loki got inside his mind.  Dozens and dozens of SHIELD agents, colleagues, friends, all dead at his hands and no matter how often they all tell him that it wasn’t his fault, Pietro knows that Clint will never really believe that.

So Pietro hides how much he hates being dependent on a wheelchair.  He forces a smile on to his face when the medical team tell him that his knee is taking longer to heal than they thought. “It just means I get to have you waiting on me hand and foot for longer” he grins at a pained looking Clint, burying his disappointment deep down, only letting it out later that night as he sobs in Wanda’s arms at the thought of spending  the next six months like this.

The morning after his melt down, he plasters his game face solidly in place.  He’s all smiles and wise-cracks, joking about how his upper body strength will soon rival Steve’s, persuading the team to push him as fast as they can as part of their training exercises, pretending that every minute spent sitting in this damn chair isn’t killing him.

He’s good at it, the pretending, and it seems to be working.  Clint slowly starts to keep his head from going under, treading water, getting better until he’s practically the same flirtatious, cocky Avenger that he was before.  Which is fantastic, it really is.  Except, it’s suddenly much harder to hide his true feelings about the chair.

Clint’s grinning at him, legs swinging freely from where he’s sitting on the kitchen table munching an apple, the familiar glint of charm in his eye and it’s the best thing Pietro’s seen in months.

He looks suddenly shy as he asks Pietro about his weekend plans and Pietro thinks it might be the most adorable thing that he’s ever seen.  And also the most terrifying.  Are they really gonna do this?  Cross that line from playful banter to actually acknowledging that this thing between them is real?  Any excitement Pietro feels at the prospect is doused by Clint’s next words.

 “You know, a buddy of mine lost his legs in Afghanistan and he plays in this wheelchair basketball team.  I thought that maybe we could go and watch them play this weekend?” 

He knows on some level that Clint is trying to be nice.  That Clint is asking him out on a date.  That he’s being thoughtful and inviting him somewhere that will easily accommodate his chair.  Honestly, it’s actually a very sweet gesture.

Which is completely wasted on Pietro at this moment because all he can think is that Clint believes he’ll be in this chair forever.  That he should do what his good buddy did and accept it.  Hell, he may not be the fastest man alive anymore but he can play wheelchair basketball.  Hell, why not start training for the Paralympics?  Why dream small?!

He suddenly realises that he’s been screaming all this at Clint and falls silent.  _Fuck._   Wanda is behind him, obviously alerted to his distress, and he pleads at her in Sokovian to get him out of here.  He’d wheel himself but his arms feel like jelly.  Clint tries to follow but Steve holds him back.  _Oh great, Steve’s here as well._   Just what he needs.  More witnesses to his complete and utter breakdown.

He refuses to talk about it, just asks Wanda to help him into bed, where he immediately escapes into sleep.

There’s a familiar weight on the bed when he wakes up. Clint.

“You know, that’s not the first time you’ve spoken to me without being aware of it.”

“Huh?” Pietro is still sleep slow and he has no idea what Clint is going on about.

“Back in the hospital,” Clint explains.  “When you first woke up after I..after you were shot, you were talking about how you probably deserved it.”

Pietro vaguely remembers it.  “That was just the painkillers talking.”

Clint hums non-committally.  “And earlier? Was that painkillers too?  Or do you really have such a low opinion of yourself that you’ve just given up?”

He wants to shout. Wants to scream about how hard he’s been working, the hours upon hours of physical therapy that he’s been struggling through but what’s the point?  What’s the point to any of it?

Clint’s hands grip him tightly, stopping him from turning away. 

“You’ve spent the last three months picking me up and putting me back together.  I would not be me anymore if it wasn’t for you.  You are…you’re extraordinary, Pietro.  And I am going to spend the next three months, hell the next three decades, proving that to you.”

It’s not as easy as all that of course.  Except that, in a lot of ways, in some of the most important ways, it is.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> anonymous asked:
> 
> Prompt: Clint has a nightmare about Loki coming back and making him kill Pietro and Pietro has to wake him and show Clint that he's fine or something. Do what you want with it really. Thank you <3

He watches with cold detachment as the arrow hits its target.  He barely registers the scream of agony as Pietro’s knee cap shatters and he rushes to meet the ground.

He’s too busy.  Busy nocking his next arrow and letting it loose, watching it sink into Pietro’s chest, admiring how the red blossoms out from his target until the ground is dripping with it.

The next arrow is set to pierce Pietro’s throat.  Steve tries to stop it but he’s too slow.  He watches it fly through the air, straight and true, to the soundtrack of panicked yells and carnage.  Ironically, the only person who would have been fast enough to stop him was Pietro himself.

Not that he’s in any position to do so at the moment.  Not with the way he’s choking on his own blood.  Not with the way the light is slowly dying from his eyes.

All Clint feels, as he watches the newest Avenger take his last breath, is a sense of accomplishment.  He’s succeeded in fulfilling his master’s wishes.  He doesn’t struggle as Steve wrestles him to the ground, that’s not part of his instructions.  He co-operates and watches in wonder at the chaos that his Master has allowed him to cause.

He watches as Wanda sinks to her knees in grief.  He laughs as her lapse in concentration allows Loki’s agents to breach her shield and cut her down.  He grins as Vision’s momentary falter at watching Wanda fall dead to the ground is enough for another agent to cut him in half.

They are all falling now, one by one.  Even Captain America himself is too busy reeling in shock to notice the knife hidden in Clint’s boot.

As he stands, victorious, the bodies of those he held dear surrounding him, he feels no remorse.

Loki’s approval is like a living, breathing thing, surrounding him and embracing him.  He can’t help but melt under his Master’s touch.

“Well done, my Archer.  You have served me admirably.  Now, I would reward you and have you free of my chains.“  With a knowing smile and a press of cold lips he whispers into Clint’s ears.  "See what you have done…”

* * *

He wakes with a choked-off scream in his throat and sleep-warm hands on his face.

“I am fine.  We are all alive.  Steve stopped you, he got to you in time.  Loki is defeated.  You’re you.”

Pietro’s words are no less heartfelt for this being the hundredth time he’s said them.  The nightmare is a familiar one, the calming words perfected over many sleepless nights.

Pietro is fine.  The Avengers are alive.  Steve reached him in time to stop that third arrow, they defeated Loki and Clint’s mind is his own.

They chant the words together as Pietro rocks him back to sleep.

His mind may be his own again, but his heart belongs with Pietro.  He finds that he doesn’t mind giving up that piece of himself.  He knows it’s in good hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, I think this is the end of this particular 'verse now. Although, who knows?

**Author's Note:**

> Yep, you read right! Chapter 1 of 2! My next prompt fill will be a continuation of this story.
> 
>  
> 
> [Tumblr](http://pietrolovesclint.tumblr.com)


End file.
